Africa: USM Alger Revel in First Ever TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup Final Appearance

25 May 2023
Confederation of African Football (Giza)

Union Sportive de la Médina d'Alger, simply known as USM Alger will be playing in their first ever final of the TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup when they take on Tanzanian giants Young Africans (Yanga).

Previously, their best performance in this competition was reaching the quarter final in the 2017/18 season.

This will however be their second appearance in a Continental final, having played in the 2015 TotalEnergies CAF Champions League final, losing 4-1 on aggregate to Congolese side TP Mazembe.

After a good domestic record in Algeria where they have won eight Algerian league titles and 10 Cups, they will seek to win their first ever Continental title, in the two-legged affair against East African side Yanga.

Alger kicked off their campaign this season in the second preliminary round, where they eliminated Togolese side AS Kara with an aggregate score of 4-1. They won the first leg away from home 2-0 before finishing off the job with a 2-1 victory in the return fixture in Algiers.

In the additional preliminary round, they eliminated South Africa's Cape Town City. They tied 0-0 in the first leg before using their home advantage to win the corresponding fixture 1-0 in Algiers, earning a slot in the group phase.

They were draw in Group A with South African debutants Marumo Gallants, Congo's St. Elloi Lupopo and Libya's Al Akhdar. They finished second in the group with 11 points off three victories and three draws, losing once.

They beat Lupopo 3-0, Gallants 2-0 and Al Akhdar 4-1. Their draws were 1-1 away to Akhdar and Lupopo respectively. Their only defeat came away from home when they lost 2-0 to Gallants.

They faced Morocco's AS Far in the quarter finals, winning 4-3 on aggregate. They won the first leg 2-0 and progressed despite losing the return fixture 3-2 in Rabat.

They face Ivorian outfit Asec Mimosas in the semi-finals where they edged them out 2-0 in the return tie in Algiers infront of more than 60,000 fans, having drawn 0-0 in the first leg on the road.

The Algerians now switch their attention to the final against another first timer, Yanga, with the Tanzanians hosting the first leg in Dar es Salaam on Sunday at 13h00 GMT (16h00 local time). The return fixture will be played on June 3 in Algiers at 19h00 GMT (20h00 local time).

Summary of matches:

Second Round

First Leg ASC Kara 0 USM Alger 2

Second Leg USM Alger 2 ASC Kara 1

USM Alger wins 4-1 on aggregate

Playoff Round

First Leg Cape Town City 0 USM Alger 0

Second Leg USM Alger 1 Cape Town City 0

USM Alger wins 1-0 on aggregate

Group Stage

USM Alger 3 Saint Eloi Lupopo 0

Al Akhdar 1 USM Alger 1

USM Alger 2 Marumo Gallants 0

Marumo Gallants 2 USM Alger 0

Saint Eloi Lupopo 1 USM Alger 1

USM Alger 4 Al Akhdar 1

Quarter-final

First Leg USM Alger 2 ASFAR 0

Second Leg ASFAR 3 USM Alger 2

USM Alger wins 4-3 on aggregate

Semi-final

First leg ASEC Mimosas 0 USM Alger 0

Second leg USM Alger 2 ASEC Mimosas 0

USM Alger wins 2-0 on aggregate

Read the original article on CAF.

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